Abstract
Climate change damage induced by growing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has rapidly fostered research on capturing, utilizing, and converting CO2 into valuable C1 and C2 chemicals. In particular, electrochemical reduction of CO2 into formic acid and ethylene is a promising way to recycle the wasted CO2 gas, provided that this process is environmental sustainable and economic feasible compared to conventional processes. Here we review electrocatalysts for the production of formic acid and ethylene by electrochemical CO2 reduction. We discuss the optimization of catalysts by structural engineering, construction of metal alloys, development of metal and non-metal composites, defect engineering single-atom catalyst schemes, and metal-functional polymers. We also present life cycle and economic assessments of electrochemical CO2 reduction. Actually, due to the lack of material recycling, and to disadvantages of high electricity consumption, insufficient catalytic performance, and durability, current electrochemical CO2 reduction is still inferior to the conventional process.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and material
Not applicable.
Code availability
Not applicable.
References
Agarwal AS, Zhai Y, Hill D, Sridhar N (2011) The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate/formic acid: Engineering and economic feasibility. Chemsuschem 4:1301–1310. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201100220
Ahn Y, Byun J, Kim D, Kim B-S, Lee C-S, Han J (2019) System-level analysis and life cycle assessment of CO2 and fossil-based formic acid strategies. Green Chem 21:3442–3455. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9gc01280j
Alfath M, Lee CW (2020) Recent advances in the catalyst design and mass transport control for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate. Catalysts 10:859. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10080859
An X, Li S, Hao X, Xie Z, Du X, Wang Z, Hao X, Abudula A, Guan G (2021) Common strategies for improving the performances of tin and bismuth-based catalysts in the electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to formic acid/formate. Renew Sust Energ Rev 143:110952. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2021.110952
Artz J, Muller TE, Thenert K, Kleinekorte J, Meys R, Sternberg A, Bardow A, Leitner W (2018) Sustainable conversion of carbon dioxide: an integrated review of catalysis and life cycle assessment. Chem Rev 118:434–504. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00435
Arvidsson R, Tillman AM, Sandén BA, Janssen M, Nordelöf A, Kushnir D, Molander S (2017) Environmental assessment of emerging technologies: recommendations for prospective LCA. J Ind Ecol 22:1286–1294. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.12690
Back S, Kim JH, Kim YT, Jung Y (2016) On the mechanism of high product selectivity for HCOOH using Pb in CO2 electroreduction. Phys Chem Chem Phys 18:9652–9657. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6cp00542j
Bagger A, Ju W, Varela AS, Strasser P, Rossmeisl J (2017) Electrochemical CO2 reduction: a classification problem. ChemPhysChem 18:3266–3273. https://doi.org/10.1002/cphc.201700736
Bagger A, Ju W, Varela AS, Strasser P, Rossmeisl J (2019) Electrochemical CO2 reduction: classifying Cu facets. ACS Catal 9:7894–7899. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.9b01899
Bai X, Chen W, Zhao C, Li S, Song Y, Ge R, Wei W, Sun Y (2017) Exclusive formation of formic acid from CO2 electroreduction by a tunable Pd-Sn alloy. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 56:12219–12223. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201707098
Baruch MF, Pander JE, White JL, Bocarsly AB (2015) Mechanistic insights into the reduction of CO2 on tin electrodes using in situ ATR-IR spectroscopy. ACS Catal 5:3148–3156. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.5b00402
Bashir S, Hossain SS, Rahman S, Ahmed S, Amir A-A, Hossain MM (2016) Electrocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide on SnO2/MWCNT in aqueous electrolyte solution. J CO2 Util 16:346–353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2016.09.002
Benson EE, Kubiak CP, Sathrum AJ, Smieja JM (2009) Electrocatalytic and homogeneous approaches to conversion of CO2 to liquid fuels. Chem Soc Rev 38:89–99. https://doi.org/10.1039/b804323j
Bohlen B, Wastl D, Radomski J, Sieber V, Vieira L (2020) Electrochemical CO2 reduction to formate on indium catalysts prepared by electrodeposition in deep eutectic solvents. Electrochem Commun 110:106597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elecom.2019.106597
Bok J, Lee SY, Lee BH, Kim C, Nguyen DLT, Kim JW, Jung E, Lee CW, Jung Y, Lee HS, Kim J, Lee K, Ko W, Kim YS, Cho SP, Yoo JS, Hyeon T, Hwang YJ (2021) Designing atomically dispersed Au on tensile-strained Pd for efficient CO2 electroreduction to formate. J Am Chem Soc 143:5386–5395. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c12696
Bredar ARC, Chown AL, Burton AR, Farnum BH (2020) Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of metal oxide electrodes for energy applications. ACS Appl Energy Mater 3:66–98. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.9b01965
Bulushev DA, Ross JRH (2018) Towards sustainable production of formic acid. Chemsuschem 11:821–836. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201702075
Bushuyev OS, De Luna P, Dinh CT, Tao L, Saur G, van de Lagemaat J, Kelley SO, Sargent EH (2018) What should we make with CO2 and how can we make it? Joule 2:825–832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2017.09.003
Cai Y, Fu J, Zhou Y, Chang YC, Min Q, Zhu JJ, Lin Y, Zhu W (2021) Insights on forming N, O-coordinated Cu single-atom catalysts for electrochemical reduction CO2 to methane. Nat Commun 12:586. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20769-x
Calle-Vallejo F, Koper MT (2013) Theoretical considerations on the electroreduction of CO to C2 species on Cu(100) electrodes. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 52:7282–7285. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201301470
Chaplin RPS, Wragg AA (2003) Effects of process conditions and electrode material on reaction pathways for carbon dioxide electroreduction with particular reference to formate formation. J Appl Electrochem 33:1107–1123. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JACH.0000004018.57792.b8
Chatterjee S, Dutta I, Lum Y, Lai Z, Huang K-W (2021) Enabling storage and utilization of low-carbon electricity: power to formic acid. Energy Environ Sci 14:1194–1246. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ee03011b
Chen C, Khosrowabadi Kotyk JF, Sheehan SW (2018) Progress toward commercial application of electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction. Chem 4:2571–2586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2018.08.019
Chen A, Zhang X, Chen L, Yao S, Zhou Z (2020a) A machine learning model on simple features for CO2 reduction electrocatalysts. J Phys Chem C 124:22471–22478. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c05964
Chen X, Chen J, Alghoraibi NM, Henckel DA, Zhang R, Nwabara UO, Madsen KE, Kenis PJA, Zimmerman SC, Gewirth AA (2020b) Electrochemical CO2-to-ethylene conversion on polyamine-incorporated Cu electrodes. Nat Catal 4:20–27. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-020-00547-0
Chen X, Ma D-D, Chen B, Zhang K, Zou R, Wu X-T, Zhu Q-L (2020c) Metal–organic framework-derived mesoporous carbon nanoframes embedded with atomically dispersed Fe–N active sites for efficient bifunctional oxygen and carbon dioxide electroreduction. Appl Catal B 267:118720. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.118720
Chen G, Ye D, Chen R, Li J, Zhu X, Liao Q (2021) Enhanced efficiency for carbon dioxide electroreduction to formate by electrodeposition Sn on Cu nanowires. J CO2 Util 44:101409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2020.101409
Choi SY, Jeong SK, Kim HJ, Baek I-H, Park KT (2016) Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate on tin–lead alloys. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 4:1311–1318. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.5b01336
Clark EL, Hahn C, Jaramillo TF, Bell AT (2017) Electrochemical CO2 reduction over compressively strained CuAg surface alloys with enhanced multi-carbon oxygenate selectivity. J Am Chem Soc 139:15848–15857. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b08607
Climent V, Feliu JM (2011) Thirty years of platinum single crystal electrochemistry. J Solid State Electrochem 15:1297–1315. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-011-1372-1
Daiyan R, Saputera WH, Masood H, Leverett J, Lu X, Amal R (2020) A disquisition on the active sites of heterogeneous catalysts for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to value-added chemicals and fuel. Adv Energy Mater 10:1902106. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201902106
Damas GB, Miranda CR, Sgarbi R, Portela JM, Camilo MR, Lima FHB, Araujo CM (2019) On the mechanism of carbon dioxide reduction on Sn-based electrodes: insights into the role of oxide surfaces. Catalysts 9:636. https://doi.org/10.3390/catal9080636
Dominguez-Ramos A, Singh B, Zhang X, Hertwich EG, Irabien A (2015) Global warming footprint of the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate. J Clean Prod 104:148–155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.11.046
Dong WJ, Hong DM, Park JY, Kim S, Yoo CJ, Lee J-L (2021) Kinetic-controlled growth of Bi nanostructures for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. J Electrochem Soc Jpn 168:016514. https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/abdc6f
Duan YX, Liu KH, Zhang Q, Yan JM, Jiang Q (2020) Efficient CO2 reduction to HCOOH with high selectivity and energy efficiency over Bi/rGO catalyst. Small Methods 4:1900846. https://doi.org/10.1002/smtd.201900846
Ethylene market share, size 2020–2026 (2020) Polaris Market Research. Retrieved 20/12 from https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/ethylene-market
Fan M, Garbarino S, Botton GA, Tavares AC, Guay D (2017) Selective electroreduction of CO2 to formate on 3D [100] Pb dendrites with nanometer-sized needle-like tips. J Mater Chem A 5:20747–20756. https://doi.org/10.1039/c7ta06528k
Fan T, Ma W, Xie M, Liu H, Zhang J, Yang S, Huang P, Dong Y, Chen Z, Yi X (2021) Achieving high current density for electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to formate on bismuth-based catalysts. Cell Rep 2:100353. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100353
Feaster JT, Shi C, Cave ER, Hatsukade T, Abram DN, Kuhl KP, Hahn C, Nørskov JK, Jaramillo TF (2017) Understanding selectivity for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formic acid and carbon monoxide on metal electrodes. ACS Catal 7:4822–4827. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.7b00687
Feng Y, Li Z, Liu H, Dong C, Wang J, Kulinich SA, Du X (2018) Laser-prepared CuZn alloy catalyst for selective electrochemical reduction of CO2 to ethylene. Langmuir 34:13544–13549. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b02837
Fernández-Dacosta C, Shen L, Schakel W, Ramirez A, Kramer GJ (2019) Potential and challenges of low-carbon energy options: Comparative assessment of alternative fuels for the transport sector. Appl Energy 236:590–606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.11.055
Fernando J (2020a) Internal rate of return (IRR). Investopedia. Retrieved 13/11 from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/irr.asp
Fernando J (2020b) Net present value (NPV). Investopedia. Retrieved 13/11 from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/npv.asp
Foo JJ, Ng S-F, Ong W-J (2022) Dimensional heterojunction design: the rising star of 2D bismuth-based nanostructured photocatalysts for solar-to-chemical conversion. J Nano Res https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-4045-0
Formic acid market forecast, global market insights 2019 to 2027 (2019) FACT.MR. Retrieved 12/20 from https://www.factmr.com/report/4279/formic-acid-market
Francke R, Schille B, Roemelt M (2018) Homogeneously catalyzed electroreduction of carbon dioxide-methods, mechanisms, and catalysts. Chem Rev 118:4631–4701. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00459
Fu S, Liu X, Ran J, Jiao Y, Qiao S-Z (2021) CO2 reduction by single copper atom supported on g-C3N4 with asymmetrical active sites. Appl Surf Sci 540:148293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.148293
Gao D, Zhou H, Cai F, Wang J, Wang G, Bao X (2018) Pd-containing nanostructures for electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction. ACS Catal 8:1510–1519. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.7b03612
Gao D, Sinev I, Scholten F, Aran-Ais RM, Divins NJ, Kvashnina K, Timoshenko J, Roldan Cuenya B (2019) Selective CO2 electroreduction to ethylene and multicarbon alcohols via electrolyte-driven nanostructuring. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 58:17047–17053. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201910155
Gao Y, Wu Q, Liang X, Wang Z, Zheng Z, Wang P, Liu Y, Dai Y, Whangbo MH, Huang B (2020) Cu2O nanoparticles with both 100 and 111 facets for enhancing the selectivity and activity of CO2 electroreduction to ethylene. Adv Sci 7:1902820. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.201902820
Garcia de Arquer FP, Bushuyev OS, De Luna P, Dinh CT, Seifitokaldani A, Saidaminov MI, Tan CS, Quan LN, Proppe A, Kibria MG, Kelley SO, Sinton D, Sargent EH (2018) 2D metal oxyhalide-derived catalysts for efficient CO2 electroreduction. Adv Mater 30:e1802858. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201802858
Garg S, Li M, Weber AZ, Ge L, Li L, Rudolph V, Wang G, Rufford TE (2020) Advances and challenges in electrochemical CO2 reduction processes: an engineering and design perspective looking beyond new catalyst materials. J Mater Chem A 8:1511–1544. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ta13298h
Global formic acid market report 2021. (2021, 01/02/2021). ARC Report Store (OPC) Pvt. Ltd. https://arcreportsstore.com/report/2020-26-formic-acid-market-58567?utm_source=Neighbor0203&utm_medium=KD7604
Global monitoring laboratory-carbon cycle greenhouse gases. (2021). Global Monitoring Laboratory. https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/global.html
Gómez-Marín AM, Feliu JM (2012) Pt(111) surface disorder kinetics in perchloric acid solutions and the influence of specific anion adsorption. Electrochim Acta 82:558–569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2012.04.066
Greeley J, Jaramillo TF, Bonde J, Chorkendorff IB, Norskov JK (2006) Computational high-throughput screening of electrocatalytic materials for hydrogen evolution. Nat Mater 5:909–913. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat1752
Gu J, Heroguel F, Luterbacher J, Hu X (2018) Densely packed, ultra small SnO nanoparticles for enhanced activity and selectivity in electrochemical CO2 reduction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 57:2943–2947. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201713003
Guo Y, He X, Su Y, Dai Y, Xie M, Yang S, Chen J, Wang K, Zhou D, Wang C (2021) Machine-learning-guided discovery and optimization of additives in preparing cu catalysts for CO2 reduction. J Am Chem Soc 143:5755–5762. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.1c00339
Han N, Ding P, He L, Li Y, Li Y (2019) Promises of main group metal–based nanostructured materials for electrochemical CO2 reduction to formate. Adv Energy Mater 10:1902338. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201902338
Han H, Noh Y, Kim Y, Park S, Yoon W, Jang D, Choi SM, Kim WB (2020) Selective electrochemical CO2 conversion to multicarbon alcohols on highly efficient N-doped porous carbon-supported Cu catalysts. Green Chem 22:71–84. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9gc03088c
Hoang TTH, Verma S, Ma S, Fister TT, Timoshenko J, Frenkel AI, Kenis PJA, Gewirth AA (2018) Nanoporous copper-silver alloys by additive-controlled electrodeposition for the selective electroreduction of CO2 to ethylene and ethanol. J Am Chem Soc 140:5791–5797. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b01868
Hori Y, Wakebe H, Tsukamoto T, Koga O (1994) Electrocatalytic process of CO selectivity in electrochemical reduction of CO2 at metal electrodes in aqueous media. Electrochim Acta 39:1833–1839. https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4686(94)85172-7
Hori Y, Takahashi R, Yoshinami Y, Murata A (1997) Electrochemical reduction of CO at a copper electrode. J Phys Chem B 101:7075–7081. https://doi.org/10.1021/jp970284i
Hori Y (2008) Electrochemical CO2 reduction on metal electrodes. In: Modern aspects of electrochemistry, vol n/a, pp 89–189. Springer
Hou Y, Liang Y-L, Shi P-C, Huang Y-B, Cao R (2020) Atomically dispersed Ni species on N-doped carbon nanotubes for electroreduction of CO2 with nearly 100% CO selectivity. Appl Catal B 271:118929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.118929
IEA (2020) Electricity market report-December 2020. IEA. https://www.iea.org/reports/electricity-market-report-december-2020
Ikeda S, Takagi T, Ito K (1987) Selective formation of formic acid, oxalic acid, and carbon monoxide by electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. Bull Chem Soc Jpn 60:2517–2522. https://doi.org/10.1246/bcsj.60.2517
Innocent B, Pasquier D, Ropital F, Hahn F, Léger JM, Kokoh KB (2010) FTIR spectroscopy study of the reduction of carbon dioxide on lead electrode in aqueous medium. Appl Catal B 94:219–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2009.10.027
Jia M, Fan Q, Liu S, Qiu J, Sun Z (2019) Single-atom catalysis for electrochemical CO2 reduction. Curr Opin Green Sustain Chem 16:1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2018.11.002
Jia C, Ren W, Chen X, Yang W, Zhao C (2020) (N, B) Dual heteroatom-doped hierarchical porous carbon framework for efficient electroreduction of carbon dioxide. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 8:6003–6010. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.0c00739
Jia S, Zhu Q, Chu M, Han S, Feng R, Zhai J, Xia W, He M, Wu H, Han B (2021a) Hierarchical metal-polymer hybrids for enhanced CO2 electroreduction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 60:10977–10982. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202102193
Jia S, Zhu Q, Chu M, Han S, Feng R, Zhai J, Xia W, He M, Wu H, Han B (2021b) Hierarchical metal-polymer hybrids for enhanced CO2 electroreduction. Angew Energy Environ Sci 60:10977–10982. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.2021b02193
Jiang J, Feng X, Yang M, Wang Y (2020a) Comparative technoeconomic analysis and life cycle assessment of aromatics production from methanol and naphtha. J Clean Prod 277:123525. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123525
Jiang X, Wang Q, Xiao X, Chen J, Shen Y, Wang M (2020b) Interfacial engineering of bismuth with reduced graphene oxide hybrid for improving CO2 electroreduction performance. Electrochim Acta 357:136840. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2020.136840
Jiang H, Wang L, Li Y, Gao B, Guo Y, Yan C, Zhuo M, Wang H, Zhao S (2021) High-selectivity electrochemical CO2 reduction to formate at low overpotential over Bi catalyst with hexagonal sheet structure. Appl Surf Sci 541:148577. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.148577
Jiménez C, García J, Martínez F, Camarillo R, Rincón J (2020) Cu nanoparticles deposited on CNT by supercritical fluid deposition for electrochemical reduction of CO2 in a gas phase GDE cell. Electrochim Acta 337:135663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2020.135663
Jordaan SM, Wang C (2021) Electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide for the Paris goals. Nat Catal 4:915–920. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-021-00704-z
Jouny M, Luc W, Jiao F (2018) General techno-economic analysis of CO2 electrolysis systems. Ind Eng Chem Res 57:2165–2177. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.7b03514
Kaneco S, Iwao R, Iiba K, Ohta K, Mizuno T (1998) Electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide to formic acid on Pb in KOH/methanol electrolyte at ambient temperature and pressure. Energy 23:1107–1112. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-5442(98)00054-1
Kang D, Byun J, Han J (2021) Electrochemical production of formic acid from carbon dioxide: a life cycle assessment study. Chem Eng J 9:106130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2021.106130
Kapusta S, Hackerman N (1983) The electroreduction of carbon dioxide and formic acid on tin and indium electrodes. J Electrochem Soc Jpn 130:607
Kapusta S, Hackerman N (2019) The electroreduction of carbon dioxide and formic acid on tin and indium electrodes. J Electrochem Soc 130:607–613. https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2119761
Karaba A, Dvořáková V, Patera J, Zámostný P (2020) Improving the steam-cracking efficiency of naphtha feedstocks by mixed/separate processing. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis 146:104768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2019.104768
Kas R, Yang K, Bohra D, Kortlever R, Burdyny T, Smith WA (2020) Electrochemical CO2 reduction on nanostructured metal electrodes: Fact or defect? Chem Sci 11:1738–1749. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9sc05375a
Kenton W (2020) Rate of return (RoR). Investopedia. Retrieved 31/3 from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rateofreturn.asp
Khan K, Tareen AK, Aslam M, Zhang Y, Wang R, Ouyang Z, Gou Z, Zhang H (2019) Recent advances in two-dimensional materials and their nanocomposites in sustainable energy conversion applications. Nanoscale 11:21622–21678. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9nr05919a
Khoo HH, Halim I, Handoko AD (2020) LCA of electrochemical reduction of CO2 to ethylene. J CO2 Util 41:101229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2020.101229
Kim J, Choi W, Park JW, Kim C, Kim M, Song H (2019) Branched copper oxide nanoparticles induce highly selective ethylene production by electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction. J Am Chem Soc 141:6986–6994. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b00911
Koj JC, Wulf C, Linssen J, Schreiber A, Zapp P (2018) Utilisation of excess electricity in different power-to-transport chains and their environmental assessment. Transp Res Part D 64:23–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2018.01.016
Komatsu S, Yanagihara T, Hiraga Y, Tanaka M, Kunugi A (1995) Electrochemical reduction of CO2 at Sb and Bi electrodes in KHCO3 solution. Bunseki Kagaku 63:217–224. https://doi.org/10.5796/kogyobutsurikagaku.63.217
Kortlever R, Shen J, Schouten KJ, Calle-Vallejo F, Koper MT (2015) Catalysts and reaction pathways for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide. J Phys Chem Lett 6:4073–4082. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b01559
Koshy DM, Nathan SS, Asundi AS, Abdellah AM, Dull SM, Cullen DA, Higgins D, Bao Z, Bent SF, Jaramillo TF (2021) Bridging thermal catalysis and electrocatalysis: catalyzing CO2 conversion with carbon-based materials. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 60:17472–17480. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202101326
Kuhl KP, Cave ER, Abram DN, Jaramillo TF (2012) New insights into the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on metallic copper surfaces. Energy Environ Sci 5:7050. https://doi.org/10.1039/c2ee21234j
Lai Q, Yang N, Yuan G (2017) Highly efficient In–Sn alloy catalysts for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate. Electrochem Commun 83:24–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elecom.2017.08.015
Lei F, Liu W, Sun Y, Xu J, Liu K, Liang L, Yao T, Pan B, Wei S, Xie Y (2016) Metallic tin quantum sheets confined in graphene toward high-efficiency carbon dioxide electroreduction. Nat Commun 7:12697. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12697
Lei Z, Xue Y, Chen W, Qiu W, Zhang Y, Horike S, Tang L (2018) MOFs-based heterogeneous catalysts: new opportunities for energy-related CO2 conversion. Adv Energy Mater 8:1801587. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201801587
Li F, Chen L, Xue M, Williams T, Zhang Y, MacFarlane DR, Zhang J (2017a) Towards a better Sn: Efficient electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to formate by Sn/SnS2 derived from SnS2 nanosheets. Nano Energy 31:270–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.11.004
Li Q, Fu J, Zhu W, Chen Z, Shen B, Wu L, Xi Z, Wang T, Lu G, Zhu JJ, Sun S (2017b) Tuning Sn-catalysis for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO via the core/shell Cu/SnO2 structure. J Am Chem Soc 139:4290–4293. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b00261
Li D, Wu J, Liu T, Liu J, Yan Z, Zhen L, Feng Y (2019) Tuning the pore structure of porous tin foam electrodes for enhanced electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate. Chem Eng J 375:122024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2019.122024
Li F, Gu GH, Choi C, Kolla P, Hong S, Wu T-S, Soo Y-L, Masa J, Mukerjee S, Jung Y, Qiu J, Sun Z (2020a) Highly stable two-dimensional bismuth metal-organic frameworks for efficient electrochemical reduction of CO2. Appl Catal B 277:119241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.119241
Li H, Xiao N, Wang Y, Liu C, Zhang S, Zhang H, Bai J, Xiao J, Li C, Guo Z, Zhao S, Qiu J (2020b) Promoting the electroreduction of CO2 with oxygen vacancies on a plasma-activated SnOx/carbon foam monolithic electrode. J Mater Chem A 8:1779–1786. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ta12401b
Li J, Zhu M, Han YF (2020c) Recent advances in electrochemical CO2 reduction on indium-based catalysts. ChemCatChem 13:514–531. https://doi.org/10.1002/cctc.202001350
Li M, Wang H, Luo W, Sherrell PC, Chen J, Yang J (2020d) Heterogeneous single-atom catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction. Adv Mater 32:e2001848. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202001848
Li Q, Zhang X, Zhou X, Li Q, Wang H, Yi J, Liu Y, Zhang J (2020e) Simply and effectively electrodepositing Bi-MWCNT-COOH composite on Cu electrode for efficient electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to produce HCOOH. J CO2 Util 37:106–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2019.12.003
Liang H-Q, Zhao S, Hu X-M, Ceccato M, Skrydstrup T, Daasbjerg K (2021) Hydrophobic copper interfaces boost electroreduction of carbon dioxide to ethylene in water. ACS Catal 11:958–966. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.0c03766
Lim XB, Ong W-J (2021) A current overview of the oxidative desulfurization of fuels utilizing heat and solar light: from materials design to catalysis for clean energy [10.1039/D1NH00127B]. Nanoscale Horiz 6:588–633. https://doi.org/10.1039/D1NH00127B
Lin S, Ng S-F, Ong W-J (2021) Life cycle assessment of environmental impacts associated with oxidative desulfurization of diesel fuels catalyzed by metal-free reduced graphene oxide. Environ Pollut 288:117677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117677
Ling GZS, Ng S-F, Ong W-J (2022) Tailor-engineered 2D cocatalysts: Harnessing electronhole redox center of 2D g-C3N4 photocatalysts toward solar-to-chemical conversion and environmental purification. Adv Funct Mater. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202111875
Liu M, Pang Y, Zhang B, De Luna P, Voznyy O, Xu J, Zheng X, Dinh CT, Fan F, Cao C, de Arquer FP, Safaei TS, Mepham A, Klinkova A, Kumacheva E, Filleter T, Sinton D, Kelley SO, Sargent EH (2016) Enhanced electrocatalytic CO2 reduction via field-induced reagent concentration. Nature 537:382–386. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19060
Liu G, Tran-Phu T, Chen H, Tricoli A (2018) A review of metal- and metal-oxide-based heterogeneous catalysts for electroreduction of carbon dioxide. Adv Sustain Syst 2:1800028. https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.201800028
Liu S, Lu XF, Xiao J, Wang X, Lou XWD (2019) Bi2O3 nanosheets grown on multi-channel carbon matrix to catalyze efficient CO2 electroreduction to HCOOH. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 58:13828–13833. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201907674
Liu A, Gao M, Ren X, Meng F, Yang Y, Gao L, Yang Q, Ma T (2020a) Current progress in electrocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction to fuels on heterogeneous catalysts. J Mater Chem A 8:3541–3562. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ta11966c
Liu G, Li Z, Shi J, Sun K, Ji Y, Wang Z, Qiu Y, Liu Y, Wang Z, Hu P (2020b) Black reduced porous SnO2 nanosheets for CO2 electroreduction with high formate selectivity and low overpotential. Appl Catal B 260:118134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2019.118134
Liu H, Zhu Y, Ma J, Zhang Z, Hu W (2020c) Recent advances in atomic-level engineering of nanostructured catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction. Adv Energy Mater 30:1910534. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201910534
Liu Q, Zhu Y, He Z, Jin S, Chen Y (2020d) A facile top-down approach for constructing perovskite oxide nanostructure with abundant oxygen defects as highly efficient water oxidation electrocatalyst. Int J Hydrog Energy 45:22808–22816. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.06.137
Lu P, Gao D, He H, Wang Q, Liu Z, Dipazir S, Yuan M, Zu W, Zhang G (2019) Facile synthesis of a bismuth nanostructure with enhanced selectivity for electrochemical conversion of CO2 to formate. Nanoscale 11:7805–7812. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9nr01094g
Lu X-L, Rong X, Zhang C, Lu T-B (2020) Carbon-based single-atom catalysts for CO2 electroreduction: progress and optimization strategies. J Mater Chem A 8:10695–10708. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ta01955k
Lu P, Tan X, Zhao H, Xiang Q, Liu K, Zhao X, Yin X, Li X, Hai X, Xi S, Wee ATS, Pennycook SJ, Yu X, Yuan M, Wu J, Zhang G, Smith SC, Yin Z (2021) Atomically dispersed indium sites for selective CO2 electroreduction to formic acid. ACS Nano 15:5671–5678. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c00858
Lyu Z, Zhu S, Xie M, Zhang Y, Chen Z, Chen R, Tian M, Chi M, Shao M, Xia Y (2021) Controlling the surface oxidation of Cu nanowires improves their catalytic selectivity and stability toward C2+ products in CO2 reduction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 60:1909–1915. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202011956
Ma X, Li Z, Achenie LE, Xin H (2015) Machine-learning-augmented chemisorption model for CO2 electroreduction catalyst screening. J Phys Chem Lett 6:3528–3533. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b01660
Ma S, Sadakiyo M, Heima M, Luo R, Haasch RT, Gold JI, Yamauchi M, Kenis PJ (2017) Electroreduction of carbon dioxide to hydrocarbons using bimetallic Cu-Pd catalysts with different mixing patterns. J Am Chem Soc 139:47–50. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b10740
Masel RI, Liu Z, Yang H, Kaczur JJ, Carrillo D, Ren S, Salvatore D, Berlinguette CP (2021) An industrial perspective on catalysts for low-temperature CO2 electrolysis. Nat Nanotechnol 16:118–128. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-020-00823-x
Masood ul Hasan I, Peng L, Mao J, He R, Wang Y, Fu J, Xu N, Qiao J (2020) Carbon-based metal-free catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction: Activity, selectivity, and stability. Carbon 3:24–49. https://doi.org/10.1002/cey2.87
Mc Murry JE, Fleming MP (1974) A new method for the reductive coupling of carbonyls to olefins. Synthesis of beta-carotene. J Am Chem Soc 96:4708–4709. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja00821a076
Mistry H, Varela AS, Bonifacio CS, Zegkinoglou I, Sinev I, Choi YW, Kisslinger K, Stach EA, Yang JC, Strasser P, Cuenya BR (2016) Highly selective plasma-activated copper catalysts for carbon dioxide reduction to ethylene. Nat Commun 7:12123. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12123
Mizuno T, Ohta K, Sasaki A, Akai T, Hirano M, Kawabe A (1995) Effect of temperature on electrochemical reduction of high-pressure CO2 with In, Sn, and Pb electrodes. Energy Sources 17:503–508. https://doi.org/10.1080/00908319508946098
Ng S-F, Foo JJ, Ong W-J (2022) Solar-powered chemistry: Engineering low-dimensional carbon nitride-based nanostructures for selective CO2 conversion to C1–C2 products. InfoMat. https://doi.org/10.1002/inf2.12279
Ning H, Mao Q, Wang W, Yang Z, Wang X, Zhao Q, Song Y, Wu M (2019) N-doped reduced graphene oxide supported Cu2O nanocubes as high active catalyst for CO2 electroreduction to C2H4. J Alloys Compd 785:7–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2019.01.142
Nitopi S, Bertheussen E, Scott SB, Liu X, Engstfeld AK, Horch S, Seger B, Stephens IEL, Chan K, Hahn C, Norskov JK, Jaramillo TF, Chorkendorff I (2019) Progress and perspectives of electrochemical CO2 reduction on copper in aqueous electrolyte. Chem Rev 119:7610–7672. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00705
Ochedi FO, Liu D, Yu J, Hussain A, Liu Y (2020) Photocatalytic, electrocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide: a review. Environ Chem Lett 19:941–967. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-020-01131-5
Ogura K (2013) Electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to ethylene: Mechanistic approach. J CO2 Util 1:43–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2013.03.003
Ong W-J, Shak KPY (2020) 2D/2D Heterostructured photocatalysts: an emerging platform for artificial photosynthesis. Sol RRL 4:2000132. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202000132
Ong W-J, Putri LK, Mohamed AR (2020) Rational design of carbon-based 2D nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction: a dimensionality perspective. Chem Eng J 26:9710–9748. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202000708
Orella MJ, Brown SM, Leonard ME, Román-Leshkov Y, Brushett FR (2019) A general technoeconomic model for evaluating emerging electrolytic processes. Energy Technol 8:1900994. https://doi.org/10.1002/ente.201900994
Paik W, Andersen TN, Eyring H (1969) Kinetic studies of the electrolytic reduction of carbon dioxide on the mercury electrode. Electrochim Acta 14:1217–1232. https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-4686(69)87019-2
Pan F, Li B, Sarnello E, Fei Y, Gang Y, Xiang X, Du Z, Zhang P, Wang G, Nguyen HT, Li T, Hu YH, Zhou HC, Li Y (2020) Atomically dispersed iron-nitrogen sites on hierarchically mesoporous carbon nanotube and graphene nanoribbon networks for CO2 reduction. ACS Nano 14:5506–5516. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b09658
Peng J, Chen X, Ong W-J, Zhao X, Li N (2019) Surface and heterointerface engineering of 2D MXenes and their nanocomposites: Insights into electro- and photocatalysis. Chem 5:18–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chempr.2018.08.037
Peterson AA, Abild-Pedersen F, Studt F, Rossmeisl J, Nørskov JK (2010) How copper catalyzes the electroreduction of carbon dioxide into hydrocarbon fuels. Energy Environ Sci 3:1311–1315. https://doi.org/10.1039/c0ee00071j
Popovic S, Smiljanic M, Jovanovic P, Vavra J, Buonsanti R, Hodnik N (2020) Stability and degradation mechanisms of copper-based catalysts for electrochemical CO2 reduction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 59:14736–14746. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202000617
Qin Z, Jiang X, Cao Y, Dong S, Wang F, Feng L, Chen Y, Guo Y (2021) Nitrogen-doped porous carbon derived from digested sludge for electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate. Sci Total Environ 759:143575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143575
Reller C, Krause R, Volkova E, Schmid B, Neubauer S, Rucki A, Schuster M, Schmid G (2017) Selective electroreduction of CO2 toward ethylene on nano dendritic copper catalysts at high current density. Adv Energy Mater 7:1602114. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201602114
Ren T, Patel M, Blok K (2006) Olefins from conventional and heavy feedstocks: energy use in steam cracking and alternative processes. Energy 31:425–451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2005.04.001
Ren M, Zheng H, Lei J, Zhang J, Wang X, Yakobson BI, Yao Y, Tour JM (2020) CO2 to formic acid using Cu-Sn on laser-induced graphene. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 12:41223–41229. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c08964
Ren Y, Foo JJ, Zeng D, Ong W-J (2022) ZnIn2S4-based nanostructures in artificial photosynthesis: Insights into photocatalytic reduction toward sustainable energy production. Small. https://doi.org/10.1002/sstr.202200017
Rong X, Wang HJ, Lu XL, Si R, Lu TB (2020) Controlled synthesis of a vacancy-defect single-atom catalyst for boosting CO2 electroreduction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 59:1961–1965. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201912458
Rumayor M, Dominguez-Ramos A, Irabien A (2019a) Environmental and economic assessment of the formic acid electrochemical manufacture using carbon dioxide: Influence of the electrode lifetime. Sustain Prod Consum 18:72–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2018.12.002
Rumayor M, Dominguez-Ramos A, Perez P, Irabien A (2019b) A techno-economic evaluation approach to the electrochemical reduction of CO2 for formic acid manufacture. J CO2 Util 34:490–499. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2019b.07.024
Rumayor M, Fernández-González J, Domínguez-Ramos A, Irabien A (2021) Deep decarbonization of the cement sector: A prospective environmental assessment of CO2 recycling to methanol. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 10:267–278. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c06118
Schouten KJP, Kwon Y, van der Ham CJM, Qin Z, Koper MTM (2011) A new mechanism for the selectivity to C1 and C2 species in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on copper electrodes. Chem Sci 2:1902. https://doi.org/10.1039/c1sc00277e
Senanayake SD, Waterhouse GI, Idriss H, Madey TE (2005) Coupling of carbon monoxide molecules over oxygen-defected UO2(111) single crystal and thin film surfaces. Langmuir 21:11141–11145. https://doi.org/10.1021/la0519103
Shafaat HS, Yang JY (2021) Uniting biological and chemical strategies for selective CO2 reduction. Nat Catal 4:928–933. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-021-00683-1
Shin HC, Dong J, Liu M (2003) Nanoporous structures prepared by an electrochemical deposition process. Adv Mater 15:1610–1614. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.200305160
Shin H, Hansen KU, Jiao F (2021) Techno-economic assessment of low-temperature carbon dioxide electrolysis. Nat Sustain 4:911–919. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00739-x
Si R, Raitano J, Yi N, Zhang L, Chan S-W, Flytzani-Stephanopoulos M (2012) Structure sensitivity of the low-temperature water-gas shift reaction on Cu–CeO2 catalysts. Catal Today 180:68–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2011.09.008
Sisler J, Khan S, Ip AH, Schreiber MW, Jaffer SA, Bobicki ER, Dinh C-T, Sargent EH (2021) Ethylene electrosynthesis: a comparative techno-economic analysis of alkaline vs membrane electrode assembly vs CO2–CO–C2H4 tandems. ACS Energy Lett 6:997–1002. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c02633
Standardization I O f (2006) Environmental management: Life cycle assessment; principles and framework. ISO. Retrieved 2006 from https://www.iso.org/standard/37456.htmlACS Appl Mater Interfaces
Sternberg A, Jens CM, Bardow A (2017) Life cycle assessment of CO2-based C1-chemicals. Green Chem 19:2244–2259. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6gc02852g
Sun X, Lu L, Zhu Q, Wu C, Yang D, Chen C, Han B (2018) MoP nanoparticles supported on indium-doped porous carbon: Outstanding catalysts for highly efficient CO2 electroreduction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 57:2427–2431. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201712221
Thonemann N (2020) Environmental impacts of CO2-based chemical production: a systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Appl Energy 263:114599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114599
Thonemann N, Schulte A (2019) From laboratory to industrial scale: A prospective LCA for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formic acid. Environ Sci Technol 53:12320–12329. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b02944
Todoroki M, Hara K, Kudo A, Sakata T (1995) Electrochemical reduction of high pressure CO2 at Pb, Hg and In electrodes in an aqueous KHCO3 solution. J Electroanal Chem 394:199–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0728(95)04010-l
Tonner SP, Trimm DL, Wainwright MS, Cant NW (2002) Dehydrogenation of methanol to methyl formate over copper catalysts. Ind Eng Chem Res 23:384–388. https://doi.org/10.1021/i300015a012
Top 10 emerging technologies of 2021 (2021) World economic forum. Retrieved Decemeber 14 from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/11/these-are-the-top-10-emerging-technologies-of-2021/
Tsujiguchi T, Kawabe Y, Jeong S, Ohto T, Kukunuri S, Kuramochi H, Takahashi Y, Nishiuchi T, Masuda H, Wakisaka M, Hu K, Elumalai G, Fujita J-i, Ito Y (2021) Acceleration of electrochemical CO2 reduction to formate at the Sn/reduced graphene oxide interface. ACS Catal 11:3310–3318. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.0c04887
Varela AS, Ju W, Strasser P (2018) Molecular nitrogen-carbon catalysts, solid metal organic framework catalysts, and solid metal/nitrogen-doped carbon (MNC) catalysts for the electrochemical CO2 reduction. Adv Energy Mater 8:1703614. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201703614
Vasileff A, Zheng Y, Qiao SZ (2017) Carbon solving carbon’s problems: Recent progress of nanostructured carbon-based catalysts for the electrochemical reduction of CO2. Adv Energy Mater 7:1700759. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201700759
Vasileff A, Zhu Y, Zhi X, Zhao Y, Ge L, Chen HM, Zheng Y, Qiao SZ (2020) Electrochemical reduction of CO2 to ethane through stabilization of an ethoxy intermediate. Angew Chem Int Ed 132:19817–19821. https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.202004846
Wang H, Chen Y, Hou X, Ma C, Tan T (2016a) Nitrogen-doped graphenes as efficient electrocatalysts for the selective reduction of carbon dioxide to formate in aqueous solution. Green Chem 18:3250–3256. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6gc00410e
Wang J, Wang H, Han Z, Han J (2016b) Electrodeposited porous Pb electrode with improved electrocatalytic performance for the electroreduction of CO2 to formic acid. Front Chem Sci Eng 9:57–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-014-1444-8
Wang H, Jia J, Song P, Wang Q, Li D, Min S, Qian C, Wang L, Li YF, Ma C, Wu T, Yuan J, Antonietti M, Ozin GA (2017) Efficient electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 by nitrogen-doped nanoporous carbon/carbon nanotube membranes: a step towards the electrochemical CO2 refinery. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 56:7847–7852. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201703720
Wang A, Li J, Zhang T (2018) Heterogeneous Single-Atom Catalysis Nat Rev Chem 2:65–81. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-018-0010-1
Wang T, Wang Z, Salvatierra RV, McHugh E, Tour JM (2020) Top-down synthesis of graphene nanoribbons using different sources of carbon nanotubes. Carbon 158:615–623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2019.11.033
Wang J, Cheng T, Fenwick AQ, Baroud TN, Rosas-Hernandez A, Ko JH, Gan Q, Goddard WA III, Grubbs RH (2021) Selective CO2 electrochemical reduction enabled by a tricomponent copolymer modifier on a copper surface. J Am Chem Soc 143:2857–2865. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c12478
Wanninayake N, Ai Q, Zhou R, Hoque MA, Herrell S, Guzman MI, Risko C, Kim DY (2020) Understanding the effect of host structure of nitrogen doped ultrananocrystalline diamond electrode on electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction. Carbon 157:408–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2019.10.022
Wen G, Lee DU, Ren B, Hassan FM, Jiang G, Cano ZP, Gostick J, Croiset E, Bai Z, Yang L, Chen Z (2018) Orbital interactions in Bi-Sn bimetallic electrocatalysts for highly selective electrochemical CO2 reduction toward formate production. Adv Energy Mater 8:1802427. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201802427
Wu D, Dong C, Wu D, Fu J, Liu H, Hu S, Jiang Z, Qiao SZ, Du X-W (2018) Cuprous ions embedded in ceria lattice for selective and stable electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to ethylene. J Mater Chem A 6:9373–9377. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ta01677a
Wu D, Liu J, Liang Y, Xiang K, Fu XZ, Luo JL (2019) Electrochemical transformation of facet-controlled bioi into mesoporous bismuth nanosheets for selective electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to formic acid. Chemsuschem 12:4700–4707. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201901724
Wu D, Chen W, Wang X, Fu X-Z, Luo J-L (2020a) Metal-support interaction enhanced electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate between graphene and Bi nanoparticles. J CO2 Util 37:353–359. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2020a.02.007
Wu D, Huo G, Chen W, Fu X-Z, Luo J-L (2020b) Boosting formate production at high current density from CO2 electroreduction on defect-rich hierarchical mesoporous Bi/Bi2O3 junction nanosheets. Appl Catal B 271:118957. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.118957
Wu D, Zhang J, Cheng M-J, Lu Q, Zhang H (2021a) Machine learning investigation of supplementary adsorbate influence on copper for enhanced electrochemical CO2 reduction performance. J Phys Chem C 125:15363–15372. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c05004
Wu Z-Z, Gao F-Y, Gao M-R (2021b) Regulating the oxidation state of nanomaterials for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. Energy Environ Sci 14:1121–1139. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ee02747b
Wu Z, Wu H, Cai W, Wen Z, Jia B, Wang L, Jin W, Ma T (2021c) Engineering bismuth-tin unterface in bimetallic aerogel with a 3D porous structure for highly selective electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to HCOOH. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 60:12554–12559. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202102832
Xu H, Rebollar D, He H, Chong L, Liu Y, Liu C, Sun C-J, Li T, Muntean JV, Winans RE, Liu D-J, Xu T (2020) Highly selective electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to ethanol by metallic clusters dynamically formed from atomically dispersed copper. Nat Eng 5:623–632. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-020-0666-x
Yan Y, Ke L, Ding Y, Zhang Y, Rui K, Lin H, Zhu J (2021) Recent advances in Cu-based catalysts for electroreduction of carbon dioxide. Mater Chem Front 5:2668–2683. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0qm01127d
Yang HJ, Yang H, Hong YH, Zhang PY, Wang T, Chen LN, Zhang FY, Wu QH, Tian N, Zhou ZY, Sun SG (2018) Promoting ethylene selectivity from CO2 electroreduction on CuO supported onto CO2 capture materials. Chemsuschem 11:881–887. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201702338
Yang Q, Yang CC, Lin CH, Jiang HL (2019) Metal-organic-framework-derived hollow N-doped porous carbon with ultrahigh concentrations of single Zn atoms for efficient carbon dioxide conversion. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 58:3511–3515. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201813494
Yang Z, Qi Y, Wang F, Han Z, Jiang Y, Han H, Liu J, Zhang X, Ong WJ (2020) State-of-the-art advancements in photo-assisted CO2 hydrogenation: recent progress in catalyst development and reaction mechanisms. J Mater Chem A 8:24868–24894. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TA08781E
Yang X, Cheng J, Yang X, Xu Y, Sun W, Liu N, Liu J (2021) Boosting electrochemical CO2 reduction by controlling coordination environment in atomically dispersed Ni@NxCy catalysts. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 9:6438–6445. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.1c01364
Yoo JS, Christensen R, Vegge T, Norskov JK, Studt F (2016) Theoretical insight into the trends that guide the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formic acid. Chemsuschem 9:358–363. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201501197
Yu X, Ng S-F, Putri LK, Tan L-L, Mohamed AR, Ong W-J (2021) Point-defect engineering: leveraging imperfections in graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) photocatalysts toward artificial photosynthesis. Small 17:2006851. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202006851
Yuan H, Qian X, Luo B, Wang L, Deng L, Chen Y (2020a) Carbon dioxide reduction to multicarbon hydrocarbons and oxygenates on plant moss-derived, metal-free, in situ nitrogen-doped biochar. Sci Total Environ 739:140340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140340
Yuan T, Hu Z, Zhao Y, Fang J, Lv J, Zhang Q, Zhuang Z, Gu L, Hu S (2020b) Two-dimensional amorphous SnOx from liquid metal: Mass production, phase transfer, and electrocatalytic CO2 reduction toward formic acid. Nano Lett 20:2916–2922. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c00844
Zeng J, Jagdale P, Lourenço MAO, Farkhondehfal MA, Sassone D, Bartoli M, Pirri CF (2021) Biochar-supported BiOx for effective electrosynthesis of formic acid from carbon dioxide reduction. Crystals 11:363. https://doi.org/10.3390/cryst11040363
Zhang S, Kang P, Meyer TJ (2014a) Nanostructured tin catalysts for selective electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide to formate. J Am Chem Soc 136:1734–1737. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja4113885
Zhang S, Kang P, Ubnoske S, Brennaman MK, Song N, House RL, Glass JT, Meyer TJ (2014b) Polyethylenimine-enhanced electrocatalytic reduction of CO2 to formate at nitrogen-doped carbon nanomaterials. J Am Chem Soc 136:7845–7848. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja5031529
Zhang J, Zheng Y, Wang Z, Wang S, Zhang R, Yang S, Zhao D, Yang L, Zhang D, Chen L (2016a) Structural characterization, optical properties, and phase transitions of In1–xSnx alloy thin films. J Phys Chem Lett 120:7822–7828. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b12288
Zhang Z, Chi M, Veith GM, Zhang P, Lutterman DA, Rosenthal J, Overbury SH, Dai S, Zhu H (2016b) Rational design of Bi nanoparticles for efficient electrochemical CO2 reduction: the elucidation of size and surface condition effects. ACS Catal 6:6255–6264. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.6b01297
Zhang Y, Li F, Zhang X, Williams T, Easton CD, Bond AM, Zhang J (2018) Electrochemical reduction of CO2 on defect-rich Bi derived from Bi2S3 with enhanced formate selectivity. J Mater Chem A 6:4714–4720. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ta00023a
Zhang B, Zhang J, Hua M, Wan Q, Su Z, Tan X, Liu L, Zhang F, Chen G, Tan D, Cheng X, Han B, Zheng L, Mo G (2020a) Highly Electrocatalytic Ethylene Production from CO2 on Nanodefective Cu Nanosheets. J Am Chem Soc 142:13606–13613. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c06420
Zhang T, Han X, Yang H, Han A, Hu E, Li Y, Yang XQ, Wang L, Liu J, Liu B (2020b) Atomically dispersed nickel(I) on an alloy-encapsulated nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube array for high-performance electrochemical CO2 reduction reaction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 59:12055–12061. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202002984
Zhang W, Huang C, Xiao Q, Yu L, Shuai L, An P, Zhang J, Qiu M, Ren Z, Yu Y (2020c) Atypical oxygen-bearing copper boosts ethylene selectivity toward electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. J Am Chem Soc 142:11417–11427. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.0c01562
Zhang W, Mohamed AR, Ong W-J (2020d) Z-scheme photocatalytic systems for carbon dioxide reduction: Where are we now? Angew Chem Int Ed 59:22894–22915. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201914925
Zhang Z, Feng C, Liu C, Zuo M, Qin L, Yan X, Xing Y, Li H, Si R, Zhou S, Zeng J (2020e) Electrochemical deposition as a universal route for fabricating single-atom catalysts. Nat Commun 11:1215. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14917-6
Zhang B, Jiang Y, Gao M, Ma T, Sun W, Pan H (2021a) Recent progress on hybrid electrocatalysts for efficient electrochemical CO2 reduction. Nano Energy 80:105504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.105504
Zhang J, Guo Y, Shang B, Fan T, Lian X, Huang P, Dong Y, Chen Z, Yi X (2021b) Unveiling the synergistic effect between graphitic carbon nitride and Cu2O toward CO2 electroreduction to C2 H4. Chemsuschem 14:929–937. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.202002427
Zhang W, Yang S, Jiang M, Hu Y, Hu C, Zhang X, Jin Z (2021c) Nanocapillarity and nanoconfinement effects of pipet-like bismuth@carbon nanotubes for highly efficient electrocatalytic CO2 reduction. Nano Lett 21:2650–2657. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00390
Zhang Y, Cao C, Wu X-T, Zhu Q-L (2021d) Three-dimensional porous copper-decorated bismuth-based nanofoam for boosting the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate. Inorg Chem Front 8:2461–2467. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1qi00065a
Zhao K, Quan X (2021) Carbon-based materials for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to C2+ oxygenates: Recent progress and remaining challenges. ACS Catal 11:2076–2097. https://doi.org/10.1021/acscatal.0c04714
Zhao K, Zhu W, Liu S, Wei X, Ye G, Su Y, He Z (2020a) Two-dimensional metal–organic frameworks and their derivatives for electrochemical energy storage and electrocatalysis. Nanoscale Adv 2:536–562. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9na00719a
Zhao M, Gu Y, Gao W, Cui P, Tang H, Wei X, Zhu H, Li G, Yan S, Zhang X, Zou Z (2020b) Atom vacancies induced electron-rich surface of ultrathin Bi nanosheet for efficient electrochemical CO2 reduction. Appl Catal B 266:118625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2020.118625
Zhao S, Qin Y, Guo T, Li S, Liu X, Ou M, Wu Y, Chen Y (2021a) SnS nanoparticles grown on Sn-atom-modified N, S-codoped mesoporous carbon nanosheets as electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction to formate. ACS Appl Nano Mater 4:2257–2264. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.0c03361
Zhao X-H, Chen Q-S, Zhuo D-H, Lu J, Xu Z-N, Wang C-M, Tang J-X, Sun S-G, Guo G-C (2021b) Oxygen vacancies enriched Bi based catalysts for enhancing electrocatalytic CO2 reduction to formate. Electrochim Acta 367:137478. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2020.137478
Zheng X, De Luna P, García de Arquer FP, Zhang B, Becknell N, Ross MB, Li Y, Banis MN, Li Y, Liu M, Voznyy O, Dinh CT, Zhuang T, Stadler P, Cui Y, Du X, Yang P, Sargent EH (2017) Sulfur-modulated tin sites enable highly selective electrochemical reduction of CO2 to formate. Joule 1:794–805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2017.09.014
Zheng Y, Vasileff A, Zhou X, Jiao Y, Jaroniec M, Qiao SZ (2019) Understanding the roadmap for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to multi-carbon oxygenates and hydrocarbons on copper-based catalysts. J Am Chem Soc 141:7646–7659. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.9b02124
Zhi X, Jiao Y, Zheng Y, Davey K, Qiao S-Z (2021) Directing the selectivity of CO2 electroreduction to target C2 products via non-metal doping on Cu surfaces. J Mater Chem A 9:6345–6351. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ta11604a
Zhong M, Tran K, Min Y, Wang C, Wang Z, Dinh CT, De Luna P, Yu Z, Rasouli AS, Brodersen P, Sun S, Voznyy O, Tan CS, Askerka M, Che F, Liu M, Seifitokaldani A, Pang Y, Lo SC, Ip A, Ulissi Z, Sargent EH (2020) Accelerated discovery of CO2 electrocatalysts using active machine learning. Nature 581:178–183. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2242-8
Zhou Y, Che F, Liu M, Zou C, Liang Z, De Luna P, Yuan H, Li J, Wang Z, Xie H, Li H, Chen P, Bladt E, Quintero-Bermudez R, Sham TK, Bals S, Hofkens J, Sinton D, Chen G, Sargent EH (2018) Dopant-induced electron localization drives CO2 reduction to C2 hydrocarbons. Nat Chem 10:974–980. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-018-0092-x
Zhou Y, Guo X, Li X, Fu J, Liu J, Hong F, Qiao J (2020) In-situ growth of CuO/Cu nanocomposite electrode for efficient CO2 electroreduction to CO with bacterial cellulose as support. J CO2 Util 37:188–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcou.2019.12.009
Zhu DD, Liu JL, Qiao SZ (2016) Recent advances in inorganic heterogeneous electrocatalysts for reduction of carbon dioxide. Adv Mater 28:3423–3452. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201504766
Funding
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) Malaysia under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) (Ref no: FRGS/1/2020/TK0/XMU/02/1) and also Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Ref no: 2021A1515111019). This work is also funded by Xiamen University Malaysia Investigatorship Grant (Grant no: IENG/0038), Xiamen University Malaysia Research Fund (XMUMRF/2021-C8/IENG/0041 and XMUMRF/2019-C3/IENG/0013), and Hengyuan International Sdn. Bhd. (Grant no: EENG/0003).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Ling Ai performed writing—original draft preparation, and formal analysis. Sue-Faye Ng performed writing—original draft preparation, and writing—review and editing. Wee-Jun Ong contributed to conceptualization, supervision, writing-review and editing, project administration, and funding acquisition.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Ethics approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
Not applicable.
Consent for publication
Not applicable.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ai, L., Ng, SF. & Ong, WJ. Carbon dioxide electroreduction into formic acid and ethylene: a review. Environ Chem Lett 20, 3555–3612 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-022-01470-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-022-01470-5